THE CONVENT OF SAN FRANCISCO.

The Church and Convent of San Francisco is located in downtown Lima, Peru, South of the Wall Park (Parque la Muralla) and block North East from the Major Plaza (Plaza Mayor).

The construction of the Church and Convent began in 1673 and completed in 1774. Though it survived  the 1687 and 1746 earthquakes, it suffered extensive damage in the 1970 earthquake. 

The Church is noted for its architecture, a high example of Baroque art, and features an Islamic inspired Dome carved in wood. The vaults of the central and two side naves are painted in a mix of Moorish and Spanish designs. The main altar is totally made from wood. The halls of the head cloister are inlaid with Sevillian glazed tiles dating from the 1620s. 

The complex is made of the Temple, the Convent and two other churches, "The Solitude" (La Soledad) and "The Miracle" (El Milagro). 

The Convent's Library is world-renowned. It possesses about 25,000 ancient texts and 13 paintings of the biblical patriarch Jacob and his 12 sons. The paint of the Last Supper depicts typical Peruvian ingredients and meals such as guinea pig, potatoes and chillis. Also peculiar is the Devil hovering besides Judas.

The Convent originally included 7 cloisters : -Main Courtyard, -Bonaventure, -Francis Solanus buried in the convent church, -Pepper Yard, -Infirmary, -Novitiate, and -the 3rd Order. During the works to open Abancay Avenue in 1940, part of the Convent, including Bonaventure's courtyard, was demolished, and the section used by the Franciscan 3rd Order was separated from the Main structure.

It is believed that the 3rd Order of Saint Francis was the oldest of all the 3rd Orders. The Order formed probably in the 12th century. Its purpose is obscure, but some chroniclers said that certain noblemen of Lombardy were taken as captives to Germany by the Emperor Henry V (1081-1125) following a rebellion in the area and after suffering exile for some time, they assumed a sort of penitential garb giving their pledges of future loyalty to the King if they were permitted to return to Lombardy. 

Lombardy (Long Beard) as a region, was settled at least since the 2nd millennium BC, as shown by the archaeological findings of ceramics, arrows, axes, and carved stones. Well-preserved rock drawings depicting animals, people and symbols were made over a period of 8,000 years preceding the Iron Age. In the following centuries the area was inhabited by different peoples among whom the Etruscans, who founded the city of Mantua and spread the use of writing; later, starting from the 5h century BC, the area was inhabited by Celtic-Galic Tribes. These people settled in several cities, including Milan, and extended their rule to the Adriatic Sea. 

Lombardy was referred during early Middle Ages to the entire territory of Italy, ruled by the Lombards, who conquered much of the Italian Peninsula beginning in the 6th century. Their development was halted by the Roman expansion from the 3rd BC onwards. During and after the Fall of the Roman Empire, Lombardy as a region, suffered heavily by a series of invasions by tribal people. The last and most effective was that of the Germanic Lombards who came around the 570s and whose long-lasting reign, with its capital in Pavia, gave the current name to the region. There was a close relationship between the Frankish, Bavarian, and Lombard nobility for many centuries.

After the decisive Battle of Pavia, the Duchy of Milan became a possession of the House of Habsburg or House of Austria, the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by them between 1438 and 1740. The House of Austria also produced emperors and kings of the Kingdom of Bohemia, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Germany, Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Croatia, Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdom of Portugal, and Habsburg Spain, as well as rulers of several Dutch and Italian principalities.

From the 16th century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austria and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they nevertheless maintained close relations and frequently intermarried.

The House took its name from the Habsburg Castle, a medieval fortress built in the 1020s, and located in Habsburg, Switzerland, in the semi-sovereign state (canton) of Aargau, near the Aar River. The Aar is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest River that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.

In 1134, many groups of people assumed a penitential ideology that spread rapidly. It gave rise to 2 new branches of a distinctive form of religious life, a second order composed of women, and third order composed of priests. The order of priests, once formed, claimed precedence over the other branches and on the model of mendicant behavior that allowed them traveling and live in rural areas for purposes of evangelization, such as the Dominicans or the Franciscans, was styled as the "First Order." They gave rise to groups later successfully institutionalized, such as Francis of Assisi's Order of Friars Minor.

The most chilling aspect in the Convent of San Francisco is a series of catacombs built of bricks and mortar, very solid that have stood up well to earthquakes, and served as a burial-place until 1808. The catacombs have on display the bones of more than 25,000 people, members of guilds and brotherhoods. The bones (femurs, tibiae, and craniums) of the members, at least those that are more than 10 meters deep, echo a symbolic and ritualistic intention, and, they are laid out in geometric shapes, especially in mandala patterns, suggesting the metaphysical purpose of all of them. They are suppose to absorb seismic waves. 

The catacombs remained secretly for a long time until its re-discovery in 1943. It is believed there existed secret passageways that connected to the city Cathedral and the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition and other churches through a network of underground tunnels.

The Convent charms the first time visitors from the very second they walk through its gate by its magnificent architecture and its two identical towers. Once they make their way inside, they are continuously amazed by the beautiful carvings, which are so realistic that it is hard to believe that the robes of the saints are actually intricate carvings from the wood that once was a living and breathing tree.

ORIGEN OF PLAZA OF ARMS OF LIMA, PERU.

The Plaza of Arms of Lima is the birthplace of Lima, "City of the Kings,"as well as the core of the city.
Although severely damaged by earthquakes, it was, until the middle of the 18th century, the capital and most important city of the Spanish crown in South America.
Lima was the political, administrative, religious and economic capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru and the most important city of the Spanish crown in South America. It played a leading role in the history of the  expansion of Spain as an important source of power from 1542 to the 18th century when the creation of the Viceroyalties of New Granada (1718) and of La Plata (1777) gradually put an end to the power and omnipotence of he Spanish crown on South America.
In 1523, King Charles I (24 February 1500 - 21 September 1558) of Spain mandated the Procedures for the creation of the city, the largest of its type in this part of the world, located in the Rimac Valley. These procedures indicated that after outlining a city's plan on the territories led by the Chiefdom of Rimac, growth should follow a grid centered on the square shape of the plaza.
On the day of the foundation of the city, January 18, 1535, the illegitimate son of an infantry soldier and a woman of poor means, Francisco Pizarro (little attention was paid to his education and he grew up illiterate), conforming to established procedure and purpose, designated a location to build the Plaza. Later parcels were splitted between him and the major. Pizarro, taking advantage of his title of founder and governor, took a large parcel of land between the North side of the plaza and the Rimac River.
The lot of the South of the plaza was designated to be a church, the Western lot was to be the site of a city council, and the rest of the lots were divided among the rest of his people. It was the finest and most well-formed plaza ever seen, even in the land of Spain, occupying an entire block with the width of 4 streets on one side and 4 streets on the other, and with all 4 sides it measured more than 2,000 ft.
The Plaza of Arms is surrounded by the Government Palace, Cathedral of Lima, Archbishop's Palace, the Municipal Palace, and the Palace of the Union. The name of the streets that surround the Plaza are Jiron Junin, Jiron de la Union, Jiron Huallaga, and Jiron Carabaya.
Charles was the heir of 3 of Europe's leading dynasties: the House of Valois-Burgundy (Netherlands), Habsburg (Holy Roman Empire), and Trastamara (Spain). He was the ruler of both the Spanish crown and the Holy Roman Empire from 1519, as well as of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1506.
Charles, as heir of the House of Valois-Burgundy, inherited the Burgundian crown (a number of Imperial and French fiefs that was a central element of feudalism, heritable property of rights granted by an overlord to a vassal who held it as a pledge of alliance or in fee) ruled in personal union by the House of Valois-Burgundy and their Habsburg heirs in the period from 1384 to 1482. The area comprised large parts of present-day Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as Luxembourg and parts of Northern France. Charles also inherited the region named "Free Country"(Franche-Comte) inhabited since the prehistoric period of human history and was occupied by the Gauls. Little touched by the Germanic migrations, it was part of the territory of a confederation of Germanic Tribes on the Upper Rhine River in the 5yh century, then the Kingdom of Burgundy from 457 to 534. It was Christianized through the influence of Columban (Irish: Columban, 543 - 21 November 615) notably for founding a number of monasteries from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, and a key figure in a series of missions and expeditions initiated by various Irish clerics and cleric-scholars. The name did not appear officially until 1366. It had been a territory of the County of Burgundy from 888, and becoming subject to the Holy Roman Empire in 1034. It was definitively separated from the neighboring Duchy of Burgundy upon its incorporation into the Kingdom of France in 1477.
Charles, from his own dynasty, the Habsburgs, inherited Austria and other lands in Central Europe.
Charles was also elected to succeed his Habsburg grandfather, Maximilian I, as Holy Roman Emperor, a title held by the Habsburgs since 1440.
Charles, from the Spanish House of Trastamara, inherited the crowns of Castile, which was in the process of developing enough power through the conquest of new lands around the world, and Aragon, which included a Mediterranean power through lands extending to Southern Italy.
The House of Trastamara was a dynasty of kings in Spain, which first governed in Castile beginning in 1369 before expanding its rule into Aragon, Navarre and Naples. They were an illegitimate cadet line of the House of Ivrea. They ruled throughout a period of military struggle with Aragon. Their family was sustained with large amounts of inbreeding, which led to a disputed struggles over rightful claims to the Castilian throne. This lineage ultimately ruled in Castile from the rise to power of Henry II in 1369 through the unification of the crowns under Ferdinand of Aragon and isabella of Castile, second cousins, being both descendants from John I of Castile. When they married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger, giving birth to an unified Spain. The court was constantly on the move in order to bolster local support fro the crown from local feudal lords. The title of "Catholic King and Queen" was bestowed on them by Pope Alexander VI in 1494, in recognition of their defense of the Catholic faith within their realms. After a number of revolts, they ordered the expulsion from their lands of all Jews and Muslims. People who became Catholic were not subject to expulsion, but between 1480 and 1492 hundreds of those who had converted were accused of secretly practicing their original religion, then arrested, imprisoned, interrogated under torture, and in some cases burned to death, in both Castile and Aragon.
Charles, the eldest son of Philip the Handsome  of the House of Habsburg and Joanna of Castile (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella) was the very first king to rule Castile and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, and as a result he is sometimes referred to as "the first King of Spain." These personal union resulted in the formation of a kind of universal monarchy since the death of Louis the Pious (778-20 June 840), King of the Franks and co-Emperor (as Louis I) with his father, Charlemagne, from 813.
Because of widespread fears that his vast inheritance would lead to the realization of a universal crown creating a European hegemony, Charles was the object of hostility from many enemies. His reign was dominated by war, and particularly by 3 major simultaneous conflicts: the Habsburg-Valois Wars with France fought in Italy, the struggle to halt the Ottoman advance in Hungary and Vienna, and the Protestant Reformation which he opposed resulting in conflict with the German princes. The Castilian and Burgundian territories remained mostly loyal to Charles throughout his rule.
The inclusion of the territories of the New World, the Americas, were the chief source of his power and wealth, and they became increasingly important as his reign progressed. Castilian control was extended across much of South and Central America. The resulting vast invasion and expansion of territory and the flows of gold and silver taken from it had a very profound long term effect on the wealth of his reign. As a result, his domains spanned nearly 4 million square kilometers and were the first to be described as "the empire on which the sun never sets."

THE ANDEAN SNOW FESTIVAL.

Every year, in late May or early June, to coincide with the full moon, one week before the Christian Feast of Corpus Christi, ten of thousands of pilgrims gather at the foot of the mountains Qullqip'unqu (Quechua 'qullqi' is for 'money, silver,' and p'unqu' is for 'pond, reservoir, tank; dam') and Sinaqara in the Andes of Peru, to celebrate the annual religious Snow Star Festival (Quoyllur Riti). The River Sinaqara originates near the mountain and it is tributary of the Tinki-Mayu.
The Qullqip'unqu mountain is about 5,522m/18,117ft high, situated in the Northern extensions of the Vilcanota Mountain Range in Cuzco Region, Peru. The Sinaqara lies South West of the Qullqip'unqu and it is about 5,471m/17,949ft high.
The Festival attracts peasants from the surrounding regions, made up of Paucar-Tambo groups (Quechua speakers) from the agricultural regions to the North West of the church at Sinaqara which is the central place to the pilgrimage and proceedings, and the Quispi-Canchis (Aymara speakers) from pastoral (herders) regions to the South East. Both groups make the annual and sacred pilgrimage to the Feast, bringing large troupes of dancers in multi-layered skirts and musicians with drums and flutes and perform during the 3-Day Festival.
The celebration combines Christian, Inca and other Andean beliefs.
Specifically the participants groups act in 4 particular roles: Chunchu, Qulla, Ukuku, and Machula.
Several processions and dances in and around a shrine are included in the celebration. The culminating event takes place after the reappearance of Qullqa in the night sky, and the rising of the sun after the full moon. The Andean people kneel to greet the first rays of Light as the sun rises above the horizon.
Men dressed as mythical half-man, half-bear creatures (Ukukus) of each community, climb the glaciers and spend the night there. They used to cut blocks of ice from the glacier and return, carrying on their backs huge ice blocks to share with the people of their communities. The waters of the mountain are believed to have sacred healing powers, to heal the mind and the body, but have now stopped, noting a decline in the size of the glaciers because of the global warming trend.
The spectacled bear, also known as the Andean Bear and locally known in Quechua language as "Ukuku"or Aymara language as "Jukumari" is the last remaining short-faced bear of its kind, and the only surviving species of bear native to the Andes Mountains of South America, because of its habitat loss. They are referred as spectacle bears due to the light coloring on their chests, necks, and faces, which resemble eyeglasses in some individuals.
Before spectacled bear populations became fragmented during the last 500 years, the species had a reputation for being adaptable, as it is found in a wide variety of habitats and altitudes, including cloud forests, high-altitude grasslands, dry forests and scrub deserts. The best habitat for them are humid to very humid montane forests. These cloud forests typically occupy a 500 to 1,000m (1,600 to 3,300ft) elevation band between 1,000 and 2,700m/3,300 and 8,900ft depending on latitude. The wetter these forests are the more food species there are that can support bears. Occasionally, they may reach altitudes as low as 250m/820ft, but are not typically found below 1,900m/6,200ft in the foothills. They can even range up to the mountain snow line at over 5,000m/16,000ft in elevation.
The ancient festival celebrates the presence of the Stars, noting the reappearance of the Pleiades star cluster marking the start of harvest season, honoring Jesus Christ, and also honoring the local glacier.
In astronomy, the Pleiades, or 7 Sisters, are an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot, giant and very luminous bluish stars located in the constellation of Taurus. Pleiades is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood. The name comes from Ancient Greek. It derives from the word 'plein' meaning 'to sail' because of the cluster importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea. In mythology the name was used for the 7 divine sisters, supposedly deriving from that of their mother Pleione, effectively meaning "daughters of Pleione."

THE GATE OF THE SUN.

At a height of 3,825m/12,549 ft, lies the ancient city of Tiahuanco, the capital of an ancient empire that was destroyed by immense cataclysms, of with the Sun Gate was one of the few constructions that survived. The nearby Puma Punka site, with its huge stone blocks also clearly fashioned by advanced technology, was another ancient site from that time period.
Tiahuanco extended into present-day Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Considered by some the oldest city in the World, much of Tiahuanaco's creation defies the laws of physics and mathematics even by today's standards. Many monuments bear close resemblance to those created by other ancient cultures all over the planet. It is truly an overlap if one were to place hologram over hologram, to define the journey of humanity in time.
Tiahuanaco's timeline came and went, leaving behind megalithic monuments that go without explanation as to their mathematical design and construction. It is unknown how old these structures are. Some researchers suggest that Tiahuanaco dated to 15,000 BC, based on his astronomical techniques. More and more people now are accepting the fact that the Earth has had a long and complicated history, with many civilizations, some of them very advanced that came and went, leaving their testimony clearly fashioned by their advanced technology.
Andean legends claim the area around Lake Titicaca was the cradle of the first humans on Earth. Lord Viracocha, the Creator of all things, chose Tiahuanaco as the place of creation.
Tiahuanaco was once a port and it is now about 800 feet above the level of Lake Titicaca. Structures found in the Lake shows that the water level have changed dramatically throughout history.
One ruin still standing in Tiahuanaco is the Gate of the Sun. It is a megalithic solid stone approximately 3m/ 9.8ft tall and 4m/13 ft wide, and about 10 tons in weight, perfectly carved on a single block of stone with perfect level surfaces and smooth right angles. It is located near Lake Titicaca at about 3,825m/12,549 ft above sea level near La Paz, Bolivia.
The figures that decorate the stone are astronomical connotations and resemble human-like beings with wings and curled-up tails, and appear to be wearing rectangular helmets. The lintel is carved with 48 squares surrounding a central figure. Each square represent a character in the form of winged effigy. There are 32 effigies with human faces and 16 with condors' heads. All look to the central motif -the figure of a man in the centre sculpted with his head surrounded by 24 linear rays emitting from his face in all directions representing the rays of the sun. The figure is also called the "Weeping God" because things similar to tears are carved on his face. The styled staffs held by the figure symbolize thunder and lightening. Some believe that the central figure represents the Sun God, while others have linked it with the Inca Creator God Viracocha.
The Sun Gate reflects a solar calendar of the Earth in a distant time when the length of a solar year was different and it cannot be made to fit into the solar year as we divide it at present. The calendar has 290 days, divided into 12 months of 24 days each. The calendar also gives the beginning of the year, the days of the equinoxes and solstices, information on the obliquity of the ecliptic (then about 16.5 degrees; now 23.5) and on Tiahuanaco's latitude (then about 10 degrees; now 16.27), and many other astronomical and geographical references from which interesting and important data may be calculated. They also divided the circle in 264 degrees, in contrast with our present day 360 degrees.  At that time the Earth had a different solar orbit and axial tilt, and a different moon.
The Gate of the Sun is a unique depository of astronomical, mathematical, and scientific data, put down in a language that was very different from ours. The symbols had minute details and they are positioned in an overall schematics and a directional flow of reading, that would allow to compress a lot of information into a small space.
What the Sun Gate Calendar shows is that the ancients had a way to write down complex information in a compact iconographic form, in which every detail had a meaning. It is an entirely different form of communication. Their way was very structural, mathematical, and directional.
What the Sun Gate Calendar also shows is that the World of people before the catastrophes of 12,000 years ago must have been quite different. A much smaller moon would have meant that there were no or almost no tides of the oceans, seas, bays, rivers. A lesser axial tilt of the Earth would have resulted in less pronounced seasons. A quicker rotation of the Earth around the Sun, with a smaller year of 290 days, would also have had its influence on growth cycles of plants and animals and humans.

THE ENIGMATIC CHAVIN OF HUANTAR.

Chavin of Huantar holds a notorious religious significance which is the reason why the geographical location was used as a ceremonial center and was also the central power for the Chavin culture.
The Chavin civilization was a major pre-Inca culture. The occupation of the site has been dated to at least 3,000 BC.
Chavin of Huantar is at an elevation of 3,180m /10,430 ft, East of the White Cordillera at the start of the Conchucos Valley, North of modern day Lima, where 2 Rivers merges: the Mosna River and the Huanchecsa River. As a result this site allows for easy transportation and, at the same time, limited access to outsiders.
The confluence of two large Rivers was understood mystically as the harmonious meeting of opposing forces. Chavin of Huantar served as the meeting place of the natural and cosmic forces. The area is known to have natural hot springs as well as an awe-inspiring view of the Huantsan peak (part of the White Cordillera) which adds more religious significance to the site. It has 4 peaks with a maximum elevation of 6,369 / 20,896 ft above sea level.
While the large population was based on agricultural economy, the city's location at the headwaters of the Maranon River, between the coast and the jungle, made it an ideal location for the dissemination and collection of both ideas and goods. They were able to cultivate lowland crops such as maize and high altitude crops such as potatoes. They also domesticated llamas in the high altitude areas as a means to carrying heavy loads on the steep slopes of the hills.
The site shows a large ceremonial centre that reveals a great deal about the culture. It served as a gathering place for people of the region to come together and worship as one single body. Findings indicate that social instability and upheaval began to occur between 500 and 300 BC, at the same time that the larger Chavin civilization began to decline. Large ceremonial sites were abandoned, some unfinished, or some were replaced by villages and agricultural land. No later than 500 BC, a small village replaced the Circular Plaza. Then the Plaza was occupied by a succession of cultural groups.
The Circular Plaza appears to have been a sacred and ritually important open-air space within a ceremonial center. It has a number of functions, including serving as an Atrium for entering the Temple A through the Temple's North staircase. The plaza is bounded on 3 sides by major Temples A, B, and C, and is perfectly circular, close to 20m/66 ft in diameter. The floor consisted on pillow-shaped pavers of yellow sedimentary rock. It appears that a center line of black limestone blocks runs on its architectural East-West axis. Walls of the Plaza were constructed of cut stone, principally granite, laid in courses of varying width. The two broadest courses were carved in arcs closest to the Western staircase and in two pairs or terminal stones flanking the Eastern staircase.
The Old Temple was inward-facing structure composed primarily of passageways built around a circular courtyard. The structure contained obelisks and stone monuments with relief carvings depicting jaguars, caimans, and other forms with anthropomorphic features.
The Lanzon Gallery, located at the very center, contained a sculpture of the Lanzon, with a feline head and human body.
The New Temple is also based on a Gallery and Plaza design and contained many relief sculptures. The Lanzon deity is also present, holding a srombus shell in the right hand while the left hand holds a Spondylus shell. Smaller renovations happened consistently over the Chavin horizon ending by 500 BC when the new Temple was completed, still embodying a U-shaped ceremonial center design. The main objective of the renovations appears to be based on enabling more people to gather in one place.
The site has been studied with laser scanning in an attempt to determine whether it was planned by an elite or had resulted from religious favor. Because details such as stair placement remain constant throughout generations of builders, the site is a very early example of the use of a standardized building code.

ANCIENT REED BOATS.

The earliest discovered remains in the old world from a reed boat are 7,000 years old, found in Failaka Island, Kuwait.
Reed boats are depicted in early images created by removing part of a rock surface, as a form of rock art. The images show reed boats and men.
Similarities can be found in cave paintings around the world. The reed boats depicted in cave paintings in Scandinavia led people to theorize that Scandinavians came from an area that today is Azerbaijan. A hill and mountain site occupying the South East end of the Greater Caucasus mountain ridge, mainly in the basin of Jeyrankechmaz River, between the Rivers Pirsagat and Sumgait, was declared a national historical landmark in an attempt to preserve the ancient carvings for the quality and density of its engraving. There are more than 6,000 images carved in there by the ancient people that lived in these caves 12,000 years ago. At that time the Caspian Sea was much higher and washed against the lower rocks of the hill.
Another site is the Valley of Many Baths (Wadi Ham-Mamat), a dry River bed in Egypt's Easter Desert, about halfway between El Qoseir and Qena. The drawings of Egyptian reed boats date to 4,000 BC. It was a major mining region and trade route East from the Nile Valley in ancient times, and 3,000 years of rock carvings and graffiti make it a major scientific and tourist site today. The Valley of Many Baths became the major route from Thebes to the Red Sea and then to the Silk Road that led to Asia, or to Arabia and the Horn of Africa. This 200 km journey was the most direct route from the Nile to the Red Sea, as the Nile bends toward the coast at the Western end of the Valley.
A famous example, according to the Scriptures, of an Egyptian reed boat is the chest made of reeds in which the baby Moses was set afloat. When the Pharaoh issued a decree to kill all the Israelites males, the baby Moses was saved by his mother, who set him adrift on the Nile in a reed boat or basket.
Theophrastus in his "History of Plants" states that the rigging on King Antigonus' fleet, used to fasten the doors when Ulyses slew the suitors in his hall, was made from papyrus reed.
Ancient Mediterranean or African people crossed the Atlantic and reached the other side of the earth by sailing with the Canary Current. It is a wind-driven surface current that is part of a circular system of ocean currents that stretches across the North Atlantic from near the equator almost to Iceland, and from the East coast of North America to the West coasts of Europe and Africa.
Reed boats were also constructed from very early times in Peru and Bolivia and still they are being used as a mean of transportation. Totora reeds grow around Lake Titicaca, a large, deep Lake in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Peru. By volume of water and by surface area, Lake Titicaca is the largest Lake in South America. It is often called the "highest navigable Lake" in the world, with a surface elevation of 3,812 m / 12,507ft.
The totora reeds have been used by various Andean ancient civilizations to built reed boats. The boats, called "balsa," vary in size from small fishing canoes to 30m long. They are constantly used on Lake Titicaca as means of transportation.
The Uros are Andean people of Peru and Bolivia that live on 42 self-fashioned floating Islands in Lake Titicaca near Puno, Peru. The Uru descend from an very ancient town that, according to legends, are people who speak Uru or Pukina language and that they are identified as the guardians of the Lake and water. Uru used to say that they have black blood because they did not feel cold. They have historically called themselves "Sons of the Sun."
The purpose of the Island settlements was originally defensive; is a thread arose the floating Islands could be moved. The largest Island retains a Watchtower almost entirely constructed of reeds.

WHO WAS CHARLES V?

Charles V was born February 24, 1500 in Ghent, Flanders (now Belgium), which was part of the Habsburg Netherlands, and died September 21, 1558 in San Jeronimo de Yuste, Spain. It was said that Charles was fluent in French and Dutch, later adding an acceptable Castilian Spanish, required as a condition for becoming king of Castile. He also gained a decent command of German, though he never spoke it as well as French. He eventually united the Hasburg, Burgundian, Castilian, and Aragonese inheritances.
Charles was the eldest son of Philip I the Handsome, the first member of the House of Habsburg to be King of Castile, and Joanna of Castile, a traditional central region constituting more than one-quarter of the area of peninsular Spain. The region formed the core of the Kingdom of Castille, under which Spain was united in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Philip inherited the greater part of the Duchy of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands from his mother Mary and at 27 briefly succeeded to the Crown of Castile as the husband of Queen Joanna, who was also heir to the Crown of Aragon.
The name Castile, meaning "land of castles," is first known to have been used in about 800AC, when it was applied to a small district at the foot of the Cantabrian Mountains in the extreme North of the modern province of Burgos. The mountains extends along the Northern coast of Spain for 300km/180 mi and are of geological similar origins to the Pyrenees (a mountain chain of flat-topped massifs and folded linear ranges in South Western Europe), stretching from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea on the East to the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic Ocean on the West. The Pyrenees form a high wall between France and Spain.
Due to the irregularity of Charles assuming the royal title while his mother was alive, the negotiations with the Castilian Courts proved difficult. Spanish kingdoms varied in their traditions. Castile was an authoritarian kingdom, where the monarch's own will easily overrode Law and the Courts. By contrast, in the kingdoms of the crown of Aragon, and specially in the Pyrenean kingdom of Navarra, Law prevailed, and the monarchy was a contract with the people.
During Charles' reign, the expansion of Spain territory took place, beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus to Central and South America. The new territories were incorporated to the crown as the Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru between 1519 and 1542. These successes helped solidify Charles' rule by providing the state treasury with enormous amounts of wealth.
Charles suffered from an enlarged lower jaw, a deformity that became considerable worse in later Habsburg generations, giving rise to the term Habsburg jaw. This deformity was caused by the family's long history of inbreeding, which was commonly practiced in royal families of that era to maintain control of territory. He suffered also from epilepsy and was seriously afflicted with gout caused by a diet consisting mainly of red meat. As he aged, his gout progressed from painful to crippling. On his retirement, he was carried around the monastery of Saint Yuste in an special chair. A ramp was specially constructed to allow him easy access to his rooms.
On March 10, 1526, Charles married his first cousin Isabella of Portugal, sister of John III of Portugal, in Seville. They had 6 children. He also had 4 illegitimate children in Austria.
Isabella often administered Spain while Charles was in other lands. Due to Philip II being a grandson of Manuel I of Portugal through his mother he was in line of succession to the throne of Portugal, and claimed it after his uncle's death (Henry, the Cardinal-King, in 1580), thus establishing the Iberian Union.
The titles of King of Hungary, of Bohemia, and of Croatia, also were incorporated into the imperial family during Charles' reign, but they were held, both nominally and substantively, by his brother Ferdinand, who initiated a 4-century-long Habsburg rule over these eastern territories.